Whispers from the Past
by ChaoticAscension
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, the souls of Xerxes have not remained silent throughout Hoenheim's life... This is the record of what they have to say.


Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, or any of the characters represented within. I make no profit off of this fanfiction.

"_Souls Speaking"_

_Hoenheim's thoughts to the Souls_

**Chapter One – Returning to Resembul (Prologue)**

"I'm back." Hoenheim stated simply as he stepped off the train at Resembul Station.

"Hey, welcome home." After a moment the station worker realized he didn't know this man. "...Huh?"

Hoenheim delivered his ticket to the woman at the station. "I'm back."

The woman caught on a little faster than the worker he had passed. "Hi, welcome h-..."

As Hoenheim left the station, the two began to speak. "Who was that?" the woman asked. "Oh... OH!" Realizing who he was, the two became worried about what he would do when he found out...

"_Heh, sounds like those two were fairly surprised to see you eh Hoenheim?" "Yeah, I wonder if they realized just who you are – after all, it's not often somebody will be gone for as long as you have and look EXACTLY THE SAME as when he left..." Shut up you two._

Hoenheim made the long trek back to where his house was, hoping to see Edward, Alphonse, and Trisha again – although he was apprehensive about what their responses would be to his long absence and sudden unannounced return. _"I couldn't POSSIBLY imagine why they would respond BADLY to such a thing Hoenheim... After all, you only missed the majority of your sons' lives up to this point; I wonder, will Alphonse even remember you? Or will you be a familiar but forgotten face to him?" "Shut the hell up, Mayo. You know this is hard enough on him without your snide comments." "But Tony, I was just trying to have some fuuuun~~" "At the expense of another, like usual, to the only person who can really hear or do anything about it, like usual. I'm pretty sure that if you keep this up, Hoenheim may start to ignore you if only to keep his own sanity and keep from doubting himself." "Well you didn't have to put it THAT way Willard..." "Be quiet guys; he's almost there."_

As he approached, he realized that he could not see his house at all. The ground and trees were charred, but due to the shock of his house and family's absence, they went unnoticed.

_What?! Where did my house go...? Where's Alphonse, Edward, and Trisha?! "Whoah... I wasn't expecting THAT..." "It looks like there was a fire – look at the tree, it's all burnt at the top!" "Wow, nice job catching that Mechtyld..." "...Let's go find Pinako – maybe she knows what happened..." ...Yes... Perhaps that would be the intelligent thing to do... Thank you Reinmyre._

The planks of wood in the porch creaked lowly as he stepped upon them. Hoenheim opened the door to the Rockbell house. "Pinako," he said worriedly, "My house is gone."

…."HOENHEIM?!" Pinako yelled, while Den began barking at Hoenheim.

"_Heh, looks like she's quite surprised to see you." "Will somebody shut that dog up?!" "For once, we agree Mayo – that dog is beginning to annoy me." __Settle down everybody, I'll deal with it._ Hoenheim reached a hand down to Den in an attempt to pacify him. Den jumped away from him, barking even louder. _"Animals are too intelligent for their own good." "It is odd how easily they can tell we are more than one person, isn't it..."_

"Hey, Den..." Pinako tried to calm him down. Hoenheim smiled sadly, "I've never been popular with animals." _"No kidding... Remember the cat that tried to tear your face off?" "Hah! I never laughed so much in my life." "Which one Willard, the life-as-a-Philosopher's Stone, or life-in-Xerxes?" "...Both actually..."_

**A/N: This is a story that I've been thinking of writing for a while, ever since I read Solar Flare by Aurora-Borealis Coyote (It's a pretty good story, about if Riza went insane during the Ishvalan War and spoke to Kimblee – I can't really do it justice here; check it out if you get the chance)... **

**The premise of this fic is that the souls within Hoenheim provided commentary only he could hear throughout the storyline, as he can converse with them, and spoke to them (called out by name) while setting up his Transmutation Circle to cancel out Father's nationwide Human Transmutation Circle... and they imply that his alchemy is much stronger because he spoke to each soul within himself and they are actively helping him to eliminate Father.**

**Suggestions welcome (Encouraged actually – the more personalities and souls I can include, the longer chapters can be and the better the story may become!), Greek-era names would be welcomed for more souls to speak up as well!**

**The Final Name and Kindred Spirits (Posted by Sekai Bureka, my joint account with Shintaro Kozu) have not been and will not be abandoned, for those who have been following those fics. They are still being worked on and will continue to be updated.**


End file.
